Elora and Oliver have been working on composer projects. We have learned about several composers and they each wrote a little report about their favorite. We have never done anything like this in school and I am so proud of them for all their hard work. For Oliver especially, this was something that was not easy for him and he really did work so hard. The kids wanted me to take pictures of their work to show their dad. So here we go!
Oliver chose Mozart, his favorite composer. He wanted to put this picture on the front. It is an unfinished portrait painted by Mozart’s brother-in-law and it is said to be the painting that most resembles him.
I got folders with little flaps and the kids thought it was pretty fun to have lots of little spaces to add various facts. Oliver also drew these cute mini portraits of Mozart and very diligently worked to decorate with music notes.
Oliver asked me to make sure and include pictures of the writing on all the sides of the flaps. He is very proud of his project and gets it out to look at it lovingly every single day.
On the back Oliver wrote about his favorite opera by Mozart. I love his picture. He worked really hard on it and was very happy to show it to me when he finished. Writing is one of the hardest subjects for Oliver in school and I was so impressed with how diligently he worked on this project. I have never seen him more proud of any school project.
Elora chose Johann Strauss, Jr. She loves his music and was very excited to write a report about his life. We had less information about Strauss since we could not find any books in English about him at the library, so we enjoyed researching on the internet and reading the book we got at the Strauss museum. We all learned new and interesting facts about Strauss as Elora worked on her report.
Elora is most proud of her drawings on the inside. She worked really hard to copy a painting out of our book about Strauss.
The kids played our Johann Strauss CD both days that we worked and there were multiple debates about who was the greater composer, since the kids have different favorites. Elora likes how Strauss’ music is very lively and happy.
For the first reports the kids have ever made, I was impressed. They are already excited to make more folder reports in the future. Elora wanted to schedule regular times to work on one and I assured her that we could write a report in a few weeks after learning about some Austrian artists and she happily agreed. We’ll see how many reports and projects have to be done before the kids decide it isn’t fun anymore. But for now, I love seeing their creativity and also their different ways of approaching a project. It was an educational experience for all of us!
